World Cup Victory No. 36 For Shiffrin

LIENZ, Austria (Dec. 28, 2017) – In her classic dominating style, Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, Colo.) built up a huge advantage on her first run, then charged in the second to win her 36th career FIS Ski World Cup race on a rutted slalom track in Lienz, Austria, Thursday.

“They did a really great job preparing (the course) after the rain and the snowfall. It was not easy, but it was a pleasure to ski,” Shiffrin said following her 27th career World Cup slalom victory.

Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener was second, followed by Sweden’s Frida Hansdotter in third. Resi Stiegler (Jackson Hole, Wyo.), whose father Pepi – the 1964 Olympic slalom gold medalist - grew up in Lienz, was 25th.

Shiffrin, who scored her first World Cup podium in slalom in Lienz in 2011, skied to a 1.14-second first-run advantage over Hansdotter. In the second run, she charged the top portion of the course, throttled back a bit in the steep middle section and then in classic Shiffrin style, charged to the finish to win by 0.89 seconds.

“There were some spots where I felt like I was going forward really well, and then there were some mistakes and spots where I was taking it easier,” Shiffrin said. “I just wanted to make sure I got to the finish.”

With her victory, Shiffrin extended her overall World Cup lead to almost 400 points over Germany’s Viktoria Rebensburg. She also leads the overall World Cup slalom, giant slalom and downhill standings.

Up next, the women race giant slalom Friday in Lienz.

Bennett Leads American Downhillers in Bormio

Bryce Bennett (Squaw Valley, Calif.) finished 16th in Thursday’s FIS Ski World Cup downhill in Bormio, Italy to lead three Americans into the top 25.

Dominik Paris of France edged out Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal by 0.04 second for his eighth World Cup downhill victory. Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud was third. Jared Goldberg (Holladay, Utah) was 18th and Wiley Maple (Aspen, Colo.) was 24th.

The men race an alpine combined Friday in Bormio.

RESULTS
Women’s slalom
Men’s downhill

HOW TO WATCH
All times EST
*schedules subject to change

ALPINE
Dec. 28
12:00 p.m. – Women’s slalom; Lienz – NBCSN (same day delay)

Dec. 29
4:30 a.m. – Women’s giant slalom, run 1; Lienz – olympicchannel.com
5:30 a.m. – Men’s combined - downhill; Bormio – olympicchannel.com
7:00 a.m. – Women’s giant slalom, run 2; Lienz – Olympic Channel TV
8:30 a.m. – Men’s combined - slalom; Bormio – Olympic Channel TV
12:00 p.m. – Women’s giant slalom; Lienz – NBCSN (same day delay)